To ask what your favourite French words and expressions are?

[WellAlwaysHaveParis]

Very random AIBU, but I’d be interested to find out: what are your favourite French words and expressions? :)

I’m restarting a weekly post on French expressions for my blog on French language and culture, and I’ve run out of inspiration

Shameless plug alert.... if you’d like to know more about the blog or if you or anyone you know might like to contribute to it, please let me know on here or via private message :)

and are all up for grabs as prizes for the best words

My dads favourite: "quelle fromage!" instead of quelle domage.

Enculer les mouches. Literally means trying to fuck a fly. You say this about somebody who is very finicky and fastidieuse about what they're trying to do. It's a good mental image :-)

I like 'tenir la chandelle' - for playing gooseberry (literally holding the candle)

Va te faire foutre.
What you think it says.

il y a du monde au balcon
Gah, sloppy typing tonight!

YY to tenir la chandelle, they say it too

'Mon petit pois' is a term of endearment I often use for my DC. Also 'Je ne sais quois', it just rolls off my tongue really easily and I like how it sounds

Arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe

Prendre des vessies pour des lanternes

I have to stop myself saying 'bon weekend tlm!' on the way out of the office on a Friday, we had French on a Friday afternoon at school and it's stuck.

I love that while the cat's away, the mice are dancing. So much more elegant.

My daughter is named for my favourite French word, too. Really enjoying this thread.

bon chic bon chance

Putain, c'est quoi ce bordel?

Il faut souffrir pour être belle - one must suffer to be beautiful .

L'enfer, c'est les autres from Sartre's Huis Clos. Very true.

Ha ha yes, l'enfer, c'est les autres (but why not ce sont?)

Also love
Sacre bleu
Je m'en fou

@ShinyMe 😂😂 I love French swear words!! I find it so much more satisfying to say ‘putaaaaain!!!’ rather than something in English when a situation calls for a swear word.

Chercher midi a quatorze heures

also love chauve souris - literally bald mouse but it means bat!! (swooping in the evenings one, not a ping pong one...)

Pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse- It's pissing rain
Pis en lit- french for dandelion. I always found it curious because we were told when we were little that if we picked a dandelion, we'd wet the bed.
Mon Ange sans ailes- a nickname I had for a super grumpy Frenchman that I worked with. 'My Angel without wings. It'd put a smile on his face 😁

Oh la vache!

Arghh! I can never remember my favourite French phrase! But that's life, I guess!

I'm very found of Bof with a huge exhalation, eye roll and shoulder shrug.

I find (my French is terrible) that buying time with an 'alors' is super-handy, likewise the Spanish allora that a pp mentioned.

But our favourite joke in this house is 'canard' from only fools:

What's french for duck?
Canard
You can say that again.

I'm giggling typing it.

Une bagnole.
Un toubib.
Mon jules.

Apologies for spelling as speak no French... just an ex-bf

He used to tell me to stop eating chocolate so a friend taught me "jemme en fu"
His mum said it when we visited and looked suitably embarrassed when I laughed...
I also asked her to pass me the wizard at the dinner table 😂

@Finnegans
Yours are good’uns and I’d never heard them before.

My most used expression is probably “con de chez les cons” which I caught from a friend, but I don’t think it’s the sort of thing the OP is looking for

I love how polite & succinct the French language is.

Bonne route, Bon appetit, Bonne journée all said as a matter of course. And always Bonjour Madame / Monseiur.

Idontbelieveinthemoon I spent 9 months in Pithiviers for my year as ‘assistante’ when I was 20. I wish i’d explored more but didn’t get to meet anyone really and spent a lot of time in my apartment watching French tv.